Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Some Transactions: More MAAC Flavor at JMU

Some comings and goings related to the MAAC ...

-- Former Siena player and, later, Marist men's head coach Matt Brady continues to bring some Albany, N.Y./MAAC connections south to James Madison University, where he enters his fifth season as head coach.

Brady's most recent hire is bringing in Lucious Jordan, an Albany native, who played his first two seasons at Loyola (where he averaged 13.1 and 13.2 points per game), to be an assistant at JMU. Jordan left the Greyhounds after his sophomore year to return home and play for the University at Albany, where he helped lead that program to an NCAA tournament berth. Jordan scored 1,420 points over his four-year playing career.

After college he played professionally in the Netherlands and in the Continental Basketball Association. Most recently he was coaching in the Albany City Rocks' AAU program and at the Green Tech Charter School.

Jordan joins a staff that already includes Mike Deane, the former Siena head coach who was in that position when Brady was a player as a senior.

Also on Brady's staff is Rob O'Driscoll, who was on Brady's staff at Marist for four seasons (2004-08) and, prior to that, coached on Jeff Ruland's staff at Iona for six seasons.

-- Norvel Pelle, the highly-touted 6-foot-11 center who said he would attend Iona College this year is still not at the New Rochelle school.

Pelle originally committed to attend St. John's last season, but did not qualify academically and never attended that school. Instead, he attended a prep school in 2011-12 and is awaiting a decision from the NCAA on whether his work there qualifies him to play at the college level.

Now it appears that the timetable for Pelle's career at Iona to begin would include enrolling at the school for the second semester, thus becoming eligible for play in late December, after first-semester games are completed.

-- Janine Davis, a highly-touted point guard who transferred from George Washington University to the Siena women's program last season has left the Saints without having played a game.

Ineligible last season due to transfer rules, the team's expected starter at the point instead opted to transfer again and is now at Fisk University, an NAIA program in Nashville, Tenn. She is eligible to play there immediately.